In what looks to be the end of the 11 book Megs cycle, Mercedes Lackey has given us Spy, Spy Again, book 3 of The Family Spies. This one follows the youngest sons of Megs' and the Royal Families sons as they end up adventuring across Karse. sort of.
We open on Tory and Prince Kyril as they explore their oddly twinned Farsight gifts that allow them to see members of their families, wherever they may be. Then we switch to Meg's cousin Bey's daughter Sira, who takes care of Karsite incursions into territory close to the Sleepgivers' Mountain. Eventually, Sira gets careless, and gets taken by Karsite priests. Which sets off alarms on the part of Kyril and Tory, who gets a brief glimpse of it. Bey sends his son to Valdemar to call in the Life Debt owed by Megs, and sweetens the pot by making Valdemar untargetable by the Sleepgivers in perpetuity.
With a bunch of negotiating, Kyril and Tory end up helping track Sira into a Southern Karse prison, while Sira learns to break medallions used by ancient Sleepgivers to bind Afreet (various elementals) to help them. This becomes bittersweet, as much of the focus is on the relationship between Tory and Kyril, as Kyril is in love with Sira, and she with him, and Tory must learn to live with the loss of his best friend who is also Mage gifted and therefore not likely to be able to live in Valdemar after that awakens.
While this hews closely to the tropes long ingrained in a Lackey novel, it remains entertaining reading, and again showcases her love of character. I look forward to her new trilogy, which will evidently finally tell the tale of the Founding.
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